Herald
by Ignabar
Summary: This one is for all you who think Tsukune Aono is a boss prepackaged without the super powers. Screw that. It's time to spin the Youkai world on its axis like a roulette wheel. This time, there will be a reckoning.
1. Before

**Stories where Tsukune becomes a badass are a dime a dozen. I am _sick_ and _tired_ of this boundless stupidity in the community, so I am going to rectify every dumptruck-sized plot hole and every cheap Tsukune 'Gary Stu' Aono in a flaming monument to all of your sins. Enjoy.**

"Tsukune, Tsukune, check this place out!" Kyoko said excitedly. The elder cousin indicated a quiet storefront on the other side of the street. Tsukune looked it over with an appraising eye. It seemed large enough to be doing well, and small enough to be quiet on a Thursday afternoon. The name of the place was 'Reminders of Old,' jagged white letters on a black background. Seemed harmless enough, he decided.

"Fine, we can check it out," Tsukune approved, "but we need to be quick. Mom wants us to be back before five."

Kyoko nearly tripped in her haste to run inside, Tsukune following a ta more leisurely pace. Inside, the store was oak paneled and musty smelling. The ceiling was barely higher than their heads, and the lights were in the walls, leaving shadows on the ceiling and floor. The nearer shelves were shoulder height and packed with jewelry, mirrors, crystals, shirts and hats, which was as far as Tsukune could make out on the first row. The back walls were covered in bookshelves, the sort one might find in a library rather than in a bookstore. A middle-aged Arabic man stood behind the register, reading a magazine.

"I'm going to go look at the shirts," Kyoko said, pulling away from her cousin. "We'll meet back here in a bit, 'kay?" Teenage-girl-speak for "Wait here while I go decide what to buy, my useless male companion." Tsukune nodded and wandered off.

"Can I help you find what you're looking for?" the cashier asked. He wore dark sunglasses over his eyes, but was otherwise dressed normally. He set his magazine down and leaned over the counter. "I got some, lessee, lottery tickets, tarot cards, cigar lighters, necklaces-"

"Thanks," Tsukune interrupted, "but I'm just looking." The man gave Tsukune a dark look from behind his shades, and went back to ignoring him. Tsukune walked on, towards a shelf near the back displaying skulls. Most of them were plastic human skulls, but remarkably good facsimiles of the real deal. He paced slowly down the aisle, passing Kyoko on the other side as she held up a pink and black shirt over herself. One of the skulls was bright purple, and glinted in the store's light.

"Excuse me," he called back to the man, "but what's this one made of?" The Arab looked briefly over his shoulder at the indicated cranium, then turned back. "It's amethyst," he said, facing away from where the two Aono stood. "Greek men made that one, said it stopped you from being drunk. I tried it once," the man smiled at the front window, "but it didn't work."

Tsukune looked back at the skull, but it had reverted to a dull-looking piece of rock. The next skull was an exquisitely carved piece of what appeared to be petrified wood. The waves in the grayish material made the skull appear to ripple if you squinted at it. Kyoko was asking Tsukune is he thought she looked cute in a red hat sporting devil horns, but he was already entranced.

It was made of a murky green and brown liquid, pressed between two clear glass walls. Or so it seemed, at any rate. The skull shifted and changed of its own accord, the colours rioting together in an entrancing display. Tsukune's eyes shifted from the empty sockets to the middle of the forehead, where a solitaire diamond had been half-pressed into the murky cranium. "What on earth is this doing here," he half-murmured to himself, and he reached out to touch the stone.

Kyoko sagged when she saw that Tsukune wasn't paying any attention. "Alright, be that way ya jerk," she hissed at him, but when she saw the glazed look in his eyes, she realized that something was wrong. Much too late to stop it, she dropped the hat and the shirt on the shelf again and raced around the shelves to help her cousin, but he hit the floor before she was halfway there.

It was _agony_, liquid fire jolting up his index finger, racing across his arm and diving deep into his chest in a swirl of burning pain. Tsukune cried out, tears streaming down his face as images assaulted his mind, sound pouring into his ears like the sea down a drowning sailor's throat. The lights and cacophony sped up, an endless parade of nameless faces and meaningless words streaming in his head even as the fire wrapped itself tighter and tighter around his heart.

For a fraction of an instant, the universe sharpened into ridiculous detail, everything terrifyingly clear for the unfortunate young man.

"Tsukune, Tsukune are you all right?" Kyoko screeched in his ear. He waved her off, pulling himself jerkily to his feet. "I-I'm fine," he stuttered, "leave off, Kyoko." Not entirely to his surprise, she stopped. "Let's pay and get out of here, cousin," he suggested, and Kyoko nodded excitedly as she grabbed the clothes and marched up to the counter.

The man glanced at the two and held out his hand for payment, and Kyoko started digging through her purse for change. "You okay there?" he asked Tsukune, who nodded brusquely. "I've had worse," he said cryptically, and the man nodded sympathetically. "Migraines, they're a bitch."

The younger Aono payed, stuffed the shirt in her purse, and jammed the devil-hat on her head. "Do I look _cuuuute_?" she asked in a toddler's voice, and Tsukune nodded. "We need to go, Kyoko," he reminded her, and she pouted. "Bye, mister," she said to the cashier, who was already buried in his magazine again.

As soon as they were out of the store, Tsukune said, "Can you go home without me? I have to go check on something." Kyoko frowned at him suspiciously. "What is it? I should come with you, we gotta stick together." Tsukune waved his hand quickly. "No, no, it's nothing, I just have to, you know…"

"Ooooh, you've got a _girlfriend_, don't you?" Kyoo teased, and a flash of silver crossed Tsukune's vision.

"N-no! No, of course not!" he protested, but Kyoko smiled slightly. "That's cool, cousin. I'll keep your secret, don't worry." And she left, skipping down the road towards home. Tsukune waited until she was gone and ducked down as many side streets as he could until he was sure nobody was following him. He stopped, panting slightly, between two brick buildings and searched the alley nervously.

Finding himself alone, he ripped his shirt off unceremoniously, popping the buttons off the front and scattering them down the alleyway. His chest was smooth, unbroken, but he knew that wasn't right, shouldn't _be_…

Back in Reminders of Old, a murky brown and green skull, its forehead clear of any magical gemstone debris, flickered once and vanished instantly. The man behind the counter, not even looking up, smiled wide.


	2. Such Sweet Sorrow, Such Agony

**Flames? No problem, I got ma firewalls on! This fic is dedicated to everyone who will never read it. You lucky, lucky people. -^.^-**

Tsukune was sitting alone at his kitchen table, stirring his cereal with growing apprehension. His less than astonishing grades at his previous school meant that he was now being pressured by his mother and father to attend a rather exotic school somewhere out in the hinterlands. Kyoko was less enthusiastic about shipping her beloved cousin off to the middle for nowhere for an education, but the voice of Kasumi Aono was law.

"Finish your breakfast, dear, the bus will be here soon," Mrs. Aono told her son. "Your father will be home in time to see you off, and then you'll be going. Oh, how wonderful and horrifying it is, to have a son leave home for school!"

Tsukune grimaced and picked the spoon up mechanically. "Yes, mother, but I will be fine," he said sternly. "Youkai Academy isn't that far away, and I'll call you every weekend to let you know how I'm doing. You guys won't even know I'm gone, I promise."

Mrs. Aono sniffled loudly. "I- I know that. Thank you, Tsukune. I know you'll do us proud in school."

_'I really, really hope so,'_ Tsukune thought. _'If only you knew where I was going…'_

"Tsukki! Why are you leaving meeeeeeeeee?" Kyoko whined pitifully as she came down the stairs. Tsukune groaned, and his mom gave him the evil eye. "Tsukune, be polite to your cousin," she said critically.

"Kyoko, I'm going to a new school because my grades are south of Australia."

"It's not fair! I want to go to your new school too! It'd be great if we could," she said in a more wistful tone, "just you and me…"

_'Oh, how wrong you are.'_

The front door opened, and the three Aono caught the sound of Koji stuffing his keys in his pocket. Tsukune shoveled the rest of his cereal in his mouth and swept his dishes off the counter. "Pig," Kyoko mouthed silently, and he winked like a demented chipmunk.

"G'mornin' son, niece, dearie," Koji greeted his family, ending with a peck on the lips for his wife. Kyoko made gagging noises, and Tsukune smacked her playfully. "Grow up."

"I know this is a big step for you, so there's some advice I've got," Koji began. "First, make sure you put your schoolwork before anything else. That's why we're sending you away, after all." Tsukune nodded casually, stuffing his hands in his pockets and swallowing. "School is important, gotcha."

"Second, if you find a girl that you like, be a gentleman with her, go slow, and be prepared for a lifetime of servitude."

"Koji!" Kasumi yelled, pulling a wooden spoon out of the sink and hitting him on the back of the head with it. "You're terrible!"

"I'm joking, wifey. Only joking!" the beleagured salaryman said pleadingly. "But seriously, don't go getting any girls pregnant. You aren't ready for that kind of responsibility."

Tsukune felt his heartrate increase. He fought a mad desire to raise his hand and say, "Um, _actually_…" and instead swallowed his feelings. Kyoko picked up on it and wiggled her eyebrows like a vaudeville villain. "_Tsukki_," she stage-whispered, leaning towards him, "what's this? Could it be that you and your girlfriend have-"

"Snap, look at the time!" Tsukune shrieked. "It's already eight! I gotta go, bye guys!" He whipped around the table, planting kisses on his parents, and gave Kyoko a hug.

"Tsukune, I'm worried about you," Kyoko said in a shaky voice. "You're never home anymore, you come back with weird bruises on your arms, you're hardly even the same person anymore. Please…. Just…."

"I promise I'll come home," Tsukune reassured her, also close to tears. "Don't worry about me, everything will turn out okay." Kyoko felt herself go lax in his arms. "Alright," she said faintly, "you can go. Come back in one piece, eh?"

XXX

The bus stop was on the corner of the next street over from the house. Tsukune only needed to disappear around the block before the stumpy yellow vehicle roared up in a thick cloud of exhaust smoke. Coughing in the vision-obscuring carcinogen, Tsukune stepped into the air-conditioned interior of the Youkai Academy school bus. He wore the school uniform's green blazer and brown pants, and a white Oxford shirt with a tie. He hefted his suitcase onto the second row of seats and sat opposite from it on the aisle.

**"Hello there, sonny,"** the driver said in a rasping cough. **"You got everything you need? There ain't turnin' back where you're goin'."**

"Believe me," Tsukune said confidently, "I'm ready for anything."

The man reached into his shirt pocket and produced a lighter. **"I seriously doubt that, kiddo,"** he deadpanned, lighting a fat cigar. **"Youkai Academy is a dangerous place to be for anyone."**

Tsukune was torn. On the one hand, he could sit back and let the bus just take him to school like it was supposed to. On the other hand, he could tempt fate and give the abominable ayashi a piece of his mind before they parted for as long as Tsukune could possibly manage. It was sorely tempting to let it go, but…

"Listen, I've been preparing for this semester for a month straight," Tsukune ground out. "I think I'm qualified to say that 'yeah, I _am_ ready for anything.' Thanks for your two cents, thought."

The bus driver's face hardened. **"If ya want it like that, so be it."** The rest of the trip passed in complete silence. The kaleidoscopic colours of the fifth-dimensional tunnel failed to hold Tsukune's interest, and when the bus halted in front of a scarecrow with a rotting pumpkin for a head, he grabbed his suitcase and lugged it out the door in stony silence. The bus driver watched his sole passenger all the while with a grim look.

**"Take care of yourself,"** was all he said, and the bus doors slammed shut. Tsukune threw a rude gesture over his shoulder at the retreating bus and set off for Youkai Academy. It was a hot day in early autumn, the red sun shining with more vigor than usual for the gloomy realm. Tsukune was soon sweating as he carried the heavy travel bag down the dirt path.

_'This is just brilliant,' _he berated himself, his muscles screaming out in protest. _'There are, what, three more kilometers of this? And any moment now, the ditz is going to run me over on her ten-speed. Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!'_

The new student was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the sound of bike wheels clicking on the dirt in the unnaturally quiet forest. He _did_ hear Moka Akashiya's frantically shouted "Look out!" as she barreled down the path at him, but the warning wasn't quite fast enough reaching him. Accompanying the flash of pain as the front tire impacted the back of Tsukune's shin was the sensation of Moka's helmeted head slamming into his back as his dead weight catapulted her over the handlebars.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Tsukune roared, as soon as he could get enough air into his lungs. "WEREN'T YOU LOOKING, YOU CRAZY-" Moka's hurt expression stopped him mid-rant. She might not have endeared herself to him, exactly, but her face was too pretty to be mad at for any length of time.

"I… eh- it's fine," he placated her, "next time just look where you're going and we won't get in stupid situations like this one, alright?" She nodded, strands of her flamboyant pink hair jerking and slackening with the motion as they tugged against the bike chain they were trapped in

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Tsukune felt his heart melting, but he checked himself before it could go any further. "I have anemia, and sometimes my vision goes a bit fuzzy. Here, let me help you with your bag- oooooohhhh, you smell really nice…"

Tsukune felt the conflicting emotions of nostalgia and desire to belt her warring in his heart when another thought occurred to him. As Moka leaned over his shoulder to bite his shoulder, he reached out with one hand towards the leather choker wrapped around her throat. Unfortunately, her movements were jerky, and the shock of the bite was enough to throw Tsukune's aim off. Not able to look at where he was aiming, Tsukune grasped something else instead…

He let go as quickly as he could and prayed that Moka hadn't noticed. She was still fang-deep in his neck, so he waited patiently for her to finish sucking his blood and withdraw.

"Your blood is so tasty!" she exclaimed, and he exhaled a breath he hadn't known he was holding. _'She didn't notice.'_

"I don't have many friends," Moka admitted, "and you're the first person I've met here so far. Would you like to be my friend?"

_'Strange way to go about it, vampire,'_ Tsukune thought uncharitably. "Sure," he agreed out loud. "I'd be honoured to make your acquaintance, miss…?"

"I'm Moka. Akashiya. And you are?" She stuck her hand out.

"Tsukune Aono. Pleasure. Now, could you help me carry my suitcase to the dorms?" he pleaded. "It's rather heavy, and I'm afraid you might have hurt my leg."

Just because she was his friend didn't mean he wasn't going to milk her for all she was worth.

XXX

He dumped her at the entrance to the guy's dormitory, shooing Moka off to her own room. Tsukune marched across the lunge with his worldly possession over one shoulder, past groups of chatting youkai sitting on the couches and standing in groups along the walls. It was strange to think that they were all monsters, even when they appeared human. Tsukune wasn't used to reconciling those thoughts in his down time, since most of his demonic friends were either indistinguishable from human or so impossibly warped that nobody could _possibly_ mistake them for human.

His room was, as he knew without even looking at his acceptance forms, was on the second floor. It was jammed up against the front wall, so its window had a view of the schoolyard between the four main buildings of the school. He withdrew the key from his pocket and stuck it in the keyhole, idly wondering if Youkai Academy had a library. Tsukune tossed the suitcase on the floor, ripped it open, and stuffed his clothes in the dresser and closet. Then he dropped on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

_'This is a strange feeling,'_ he mused. _'I clearly don't belong here, anyone who can play 'one of these things is not like the other' would tell me to hightail it before I end up on a pyre or the lunch menu, but at the same time-'_

It felt like home. The weathered halls were comfortingly familiar to him, the inane gossip mixed with chatter about casually supernatural affairs natural to his ears. His house, with Kasumi's quiet routine and Kyoko's good-natured interest in his affairs and soon become almost disgusting to him, driving him out of the house in search of something that would remind him of the way it used to be, like it was in Youkai Academy.

Tsukune supposed that it was perfectly natural, what he was feeling. Not many people had a specific goal for their high school years beyond a general sense of 'get good grades and a girlfriend.' Yet here he was, with-

There was a knock at the door. Tsukune glanced at the clock was noticed with alarm that he had been staring at the ceiling for over an hour. "Wait a minute, I'll be right there," he promised the knocker, getting slowly to his feet and popping his joints. When he opened the door, Kurumu Kuro sautered in and sat on his desk chair.

"Hello there, cutie," she said playfully. "It's going to be a fun year for us at Youkai Academy. I'm Ku-"

"Get out," Tsukune said. "Go on, scat. Get moving already, I've no interest in you or what _you're going to say_," he told her, raising his voice to smother her protest. **"NOW!"** he exclaimed, and the succubus marched out of the room without a word of protest. He locked the door behind her and flopped down on the bed again.

"It's going to be a long year."


	3. Why Humans Rule The Earth

**I ain't stoppin' now! Woohoo!**

"Hello class! Welcome to your first year at Youkai Academy." The speaker was Shizuka Nekonome, a petite woman with orange hair and cat ears poking out of her skull. "Now, all of you probably know this already, but Youkai Academy was created as a school for monsters to learn how to integrate with human society."

The entire class nodded, Tsukune included. It was hardly news to him, and dissent was usually crushed by the Gestapo-wannabes in the Student Protection Committee.

"Now, the goal of Youkai Academy is to teach young monsters such as yourselves how to integrate and function in human society like real humans. This is especially important because humans control most of the planet." One of her cat ears flicked angrily, and the piece of chalk in the teacher's hands snapped before her composure returned.

"To that end, everyone is required all to remain in human form at all times, with no exceptions. Is everybody clear on that?"

One student raised his hand. "Do these rules include you? Because you have four ears and a tail right now, and I don't think humans ha-AAAGH!"

Shizuka carefully liked the blood off of her claws before banishing them to wherever it was that unwanted appendages went when the youkai were done with them. Tsukune wasn't really sure where Kurumu's wings, his teacher's tail, and Moka's extra bra size went, but neither did anyone else.

"Anyone else?" she asked silkily, running her hand through her hair to push the ears flat against her head.

"Hey teacher, wouldn't it be better to just eat all the humans? Unless they're pretty girls, in which case I'm _sure_ we could find a better use for them…"

Shaking his head at the unusual mix of bullheadedness, extremism, and sheer stupidity, Tsukune raised his hand. It was probably a bad idea to try and correct Saizou, not to mention futile, but it was just too tempting to se how hard he could poke the orc before it got out of hand.

"I, um, er… you! Yes, what's your name there?"

"Tsukune."

"Excellent. Class, Tsukune here is going to explain why monsters haven't already tried to, eh, eat and molest the human population. If you would?"

"Right…. So, humans control the planet." There were some assorted nods and 'uh-huhs' from the class around him. "But it's not because there are so many of them, or least it's not _just_ because there are so many of them. Humans aren't especially magical, so in the last fifty years or so they've been using science to create new and better ways to kill lots of people at the same time, anywhere, any time, until their society reached peace simply because a large enough war would leave the planet a smoking wreck."

There was silence; Tsukune suspected he had their undivided attention, so he went on. "Without a fighting advantage in the large scale, the only time a youkai can out-fight a human is one-on-one, and only if the human doesn't have a gun. Do you see the problem yet? People like this guy," he pointed accusingly at Saizou, "who try to kill a whole bunch of humans get maybe two or three, and then a team of humans armed to the teeth hunt them down and shoot them. That's why we need coexistence."

Mrs. Nekonome rubbed her temples. She could feel a massive headache on the horizon. "Mr. Aono is essentially correct. Now that we have _needless pedantics_ out of the way," she shot both Tsukune and Saizou evil looks, "we should get back to learning. I will be in charge of your human studies and political geography…"

Tsukune sat back in his chair, feeling gratified that Saizou hadn't assaulted him. The hulking boy was staring ahead in a deliberate attempt not to look at Tsukune, which to him was a great big 'Mission Accomplished!' Moka gave him a strange look, however, and Tsukune felt like slapping himself when he realized exactly _what_ he had just done in front of a girl who had been bullied and abused by humans until she felt a burning resentment towards them…

… of course, it was only because she _told_ them she was a vampire, while wearing an anti-vampire seal, basically robbing her of the means to back up what was essentially a ridiculous claim…

… save the disturbing habit of drinking blood, which most humans in progressive civilization frowned on as an extension of cannibalism, which meant that Moka…

Tsukune decided to talk to her about it during lunch.

XXX

The cafeteria was a miniscule little room off in a corner of the building, only big enough to hold a few benches and the lunch lady's stations. The effect forced most students away from the lunchroom to eat with their friends, and possibly not start xenophobic gang wars between species. Or maybe the headmaster of the academy was just incompetent. Either way, Tsukune bought a lunch and caught up to Moka where he knew she would be, under a cobblestone arch with a can of tomato juice in her hand.

"Hey," he called out, and she turned around. "Hello Tsukune," she said flatly, quaffing some of the tomato juice. "Why would you say such things about humans? I went to a human high school, and they're all awful. You can't possibly defend them for being such bigoted, mean-spirited people."

"Like you're being right now?" Tsukune said tiredly. "You can't have met every single human being on the planet, so how can you know that they're all horrible people?"

Moka didn't respond, but her expression didn't change from annoyed and expectant. Tsukune changed tactics. "Listen, how do you know monsters are any better? Two clans of witches in the thirteen-hundreds created a disease to kill humans as fast as possible over all of Europe, and lizardmen have been hunting succubus for generations!"

Moka finished her tomato juice and crushed the can in her fist. "Why do you know so much about humans? Why do you care?"

"I was raised by them," Tsukune admitted truthfully, "and they weren't so bad. I mean, they didn't believe that youkai were real, but other than that they were really nice people."

Moka deflated. "So _some_ humans are nice. Big deal, there aren't any at the academy."

Tsukune coughed. "Actually…"

Moka gave him an incredulous look. "Seriously? You do realize that the penalty for humans on campus is death, right? Who is it?"

"The human is… Hokuto Kaneshiro, the leader of the student council. The headmaster's plan is to bring enough humans to the school that eventually it won't matter anymore. It's going too slowly, in my opinion, but at least he's working for peace. That's something I can respect."

Moka nodded slowly. "Okay, if you say humans are alright, I'll believe you. You seem to know them pretty well, and we're friends. Friends believe each other, eh?" She sounded like she was trying more to convince herself than simply making a throwaway comment. But something was still bothering her.

"Tsukune? How did you know Hokuto was a human? He spoke at the entrance ceremony, and he seemed pretty nice. Are…"

The silence hung between them for a few minutes while Moka waited for a n answer and Tsukune searched for a response.

"If I'm a…? Yeah, Moka, I'm a human," he said finally. "Sorry about not telling you, but it's against school rules to tell somebody your species. Since we're friends, I-"

"Tsukune," Moka interrupted gently, "I know you're a great guy, and you're the first person to accept me for who I am, but I… I don't know if we can be friends. I'm going to have to think about this for a while."

XXX

They didn't speak for the rest of the day, although they shared third period, and when Tsukune finally got back to his dorm room, Kurumu was sitting on a stool in front of his door.

"There you are!" she shouted happily as Tsukune came up the stairs. "I was wondering when you were going to get back here."

"Why weren't you in class?" Tsukune asked randomly, stupidly expecting her to give him an answer.

"Who cares?" the succubus enthused, "I sure don't. Come on, I wanna get to know you, stud. What's your name?"

Tsukune planted his face in his palm, just before Kurumu jumped and did her level best to smother him to death with a patented 'Sex Kitten Glomp.' He didn't get a nosebleed, but his attempts to leverage the amorous girl off of his face were proving less than successful, and it was only when he felt his vision going fuzzy that she let go.

"Hmmm," Kurumu said, holding his face near her bosom. "You just don't like me, do ya? I won't allow it! I'm too special to be ignored by anyone."

_'Textbook case of an inferiority complex,'_ Tsukune thought. _'Jesus, it's no wonder she literally wants every guy in the school as her sex slave, she's an overpowered manic-depressive.'_

"Fuck off, Kurumu," he growled as soon as he could breath normally again. Against her will, the young succubus let go of her prey and stumbled off down the hallway. "Why are you so mean to me?" she sobbed, and disappeared down the staircase.

Tsukune had to laugh; the insanity was only just beginning and he'd already alienated three people. Chuckling weakly, he pried his key out and stumbled into the room to do his homework. He only had one subject where he didn't know all the answers off the top of his head, biology. Math, English and geography came easy to him. There was no reason they shouldn't, thanks to the diamond in his breast pocket.

XXX

"Moka."

"Tsukune."

They stared at each other, standing in a grassy field behind the girl's dorm. A snow woman with dark purple hair and a sucker in her mouth had popped up in Tsukune's window a few minutes ago with a message from the vampire, so Tsukune set out. Now, he was looking at a woman who literally represented and repressed his future. Everything came down to this.

"I'm… not sure how I feel about humans, still," Moka said quietly. "I still have a lot of memories of them, and they're not good ones either. They made my school years a living hell, and when I went home I was alone with nobody but my psychotic little sister for company."

For obvious reasons, Tsukune chose not to comment.

"But you and Hokuto are both good people, and I'm sure that you must have had good families when you were younger." Tsukune looked up form his shoes hopefully. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is, we can still be friends, if you want?"

Tsukune walked up to her, and he saw her eyes widen in the dark before he gave her a crushing hug. "Moka," he whispered, "I will always want to be your friend."

_'The sooner I never have to see you again, the better.'_

"Thank you," she replied fiercely. "Thank you so much."

Of course, it was too good to last. As the two stood there with unspoken emotions festering in their hearts, a third voice called out, "Well, wasn't that just touching?" Tsukune broke the hug and turned around, Moka leaning a bit to see behind him. In the darkness, the figure of a man was walking around the dormitory.

"Unfortunately, we can't have humans at the academy. Those vermin are too disgusting to let live. But don't worry," the man stepped into the moonlight, revealing himself to be none other than Saizou Komiya, "after I get rid of this guy, you and I can have loads of _fun_ together, Moka."

He smiled, and his pearly whites elongated into massive fangs. "Come here, _human_," he spat in a guttural voice, "I'm just dying to _eat_ you…"

**Lame pun alert! Lame pun alert! Lame pun alert!**


	4. Curb Stomp

**It sure isn't confusing yet! Wait 'till you see what I've got planned!**

"I'm just dying to _eat_ you…"

_'Son of a bitch, why me?'_ Tsukune groaned. Bad enough that he was on his own against the orc, it was just too damn convenient for it to happen when it did. His thinking was abruptly cut short when Saizou brought one thickly muscled arm down in a sweeping attack. The young human slammed his shoulder into the surprised Moka and hurled himself out of the way. The edge of the orc's hand caught his heel, halfway ripping his shoe off.

"Nice dodge, but you can't hide!" Saizou roared, turning on him. Tsukune could literally hear his karma laughing at him as the monster spun around and advanced on him. "Is it too late to make nice?" he asked weakly, and when Saizou responded by trying to crush him to hamburger paste once again, Tsukune decided it was time to cut his losses. Namely Moka.

"Awww, whassamatter? Big, tough human can't take the heat?" Saizou swiped playfully at Tsukune's backside, knocking him on his face. "Where the hell do you think you can run? By morning, the whole school's gonna know that you're one of _them_."

Tsukune got up, every joint screaming in protest. "That's what you think, you co-" **THUD.** Saizou knocked him over again. Blood trickled down his face and into his eye, making it shut reflexively. Not even bothering to get up, Tsukune mustered his energy and rolled sideways, out of the way of the oncoming, backbreaking attack. He hopped to his feet and-

**SLAM.** "You are the most pathetic example of any living being I have ever seen." Saizou laughed. "And _you_ said that humans could kick my ass. Who's kicking whose ass now, asshole?"

"Tsukune!" Moka screamed, running after the orc and his victim. "Tsukune, are you alright?" She bent down, originally with the intent to pull Tsukune's mouth out of the pool of his own blood, but settling with just holding his torso off the ground.

"You're standin' up for this punk?" Saizou asked in mild surprise. "Well, if he's your type, I guess… I guess I can change your mind!" He laughed, his deep bass rolling over the darkened campus. "Move aside, girl, and let me show what a real man can do."

Right after thanking his lucky stars (and kami, and karma, and anyone else who might accept his prayers), Tsukune reached behind his back and, with a little searching, located the ornate silver rosary hanging from Moka's choker. He wrapped his fingers around the metal, and Moka emitted a sound of surprise when he ripped the metal cross from its setting.

"That's not supposed to happen…"

"What the hell is happening…"

_'Suckers!'_

The night sky bent and swirled around the stunned form of Moka Akashiya, surrounding her in a layer of blackness that pulsated with red energy. When it cleared, the moonlight shone on a vampire, a creature of blood and darkness, wrapped in an enigma, covered in a roundhouse kick to the face.

**SLAM.** Saizou found himself suddenly rocketing backwards through the downstairs wall of the girl's rec room. Moaning in agony, the orc stood up and felt his back for the shards of ping pong table that had lodged there, when Moka grabbed him by the throat and threw him back out of the building again. Tsukune and two youkai girls who happened to have been watching television stared, two in awe and one in adoration, as Saizou was beaten to a bloody, quivering pulp.

"Trash," the vampiress sneered. "You truly believed yourself to be worthy of one such as myself? You overestimate your own importance. Know your place!" Saizou's unconscious body flopped limply on the roof of the school, two foot prints covering his face.

"And that takes care of that," Moka said proudly. "Although, you there," she turned to Tsukune, who was still staring at her. "How did you take my seal off? It's not meant to be removed. BY ANYONE!"

Tsukune shrugged helplessly. "Hi. I'm, uh, Tsukune. It's nice to meet you?"

Moka glared at him. "I will forgive you for associating with my weaker, if more sociable side by virtue of your delicious scent. It is a pleasure to meet you for real, Tsukune, but I must ask you to return the seal."

Tsukune chose that moment to grow a backbone. "I, uh , dropped it on the ground. Over there, I think," he indicated a random patch of earth, which Moka spun to examine. When she saw nothing, she spun back, only to see Tsukune's vapor trail as he hightailed it away.

Panting and out of breath, Tsukune was moving at a decent clip when he bounced off of the immovable wall that was a PO'd Ura-Moka. "Return my rosary, pissant little insect," she hissed in his face, all trace of good humour evaporated. Murmuring weak apologies, Tsukune grabbed the rosary from his pocket and returned it to the irate monster. She glanced suspiciously at his breast pocket, and returned the rosary to its proper place.

XXX

Ginei Morioka was a big fan of the Mononoke Arcade. It was a shopping district populated entirely by youkai, and visited by the students of Youkai Academy and their families. Its pocket dimension was a connected offshoot of the main transport tunnel, meaning that anyone from the academy with a bit of guts could sprint down the rainbow darkness until they emerged in the sunlit shopping mall.

Werewolves made good sprinters.

Not only was Gin a particularly wealthy individual from the previous year's newspaper sales, giving him enough funds to buy himself the odd trinket here and there, it was also a fantastic place for vantage shots of the rather well endowed youkai girls on shopping trips. Gin was well aware that most monster girls chose to give their human forms impressive chest sizes, if only to boost their own self-esteem, but that hardly detracted from their photogenics.

Today, however, he had left his camera at home. His old club leader, Sun Otonashi, had asked him to check out a particular shop from the district. Apparently, it was something he 'absolutely had to see', and Gin prided himself on knowing when to take advice from his betters. Especially when they had the capacity to melt your brains in your head with little to no effort. He chuckled, remembering the tanuki incident where Sun had…

Ah, here it was. Reminders of Old, the place was, a shady sort of place that the werewolf suspected mostly sold black market magic and drugs more potent than the sort of stuff that mere humans could cook up in their basements. Oh, those tanuki…

"Are you Ginei Morioka?" asked the man from behind the counter, an Arabic man with sunglasses. Gin immediately shifted to a more serious mode, banishing all thoughts of possibly buying some more of the good stuff. "Who told you that, old man?" he asked suspiciously.

"Your friend from the seaside. Sun, wasn't she? She bought you something," the man replied. He reached under the counter slowly, retrieving a plain white box. "Paid for in full," he confirmed, setting it on the counter and pushing it along to the waiting man. Gin gave the box a once-over before pulling the lid off. Inside was a gold necklace, chain link, with a solid setting near the end. It was plain, save for the lone solitaire diamond affixed to the setting.

Gin stared at the diamond for a long time, unmoving, until the sensations at the back of his mind proved too great for his mental discipline to overcome. He fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his head in a vain attempt to ward off what was entering his mind.

The man over the counter chuckled darkly. "Migraines. They're certainly a bitch."

XXX

"Before you go, class, I should probably inform you that there are several components to your continuing human education."

Tsukune was already halfway out the door when he heard Nekonome calling them back. Clearly he had forgotten the date, otherwise he would have remembered to stay sitting.

"You will all be required to join a club to qualify for graduation, as you are probably aware. Today, the clubs of Youkai Academy will be holding an exposition in the courtyard adjoining the cafeteria. All of you are expected to attend after school and choose a club."

Not _this_, anything but _this_!

"What club do you want to join?" Moka asked, twirling her cotton-candy hair around one finger. "I don't really see any that I want to join. I don't have any real hobbies, you see. Any suggestions?"

_'Well, unless you want to get eaten by mermaids with me, I'm out of luck there too. There's no way we're going to join the-'_

"Moka! Tsukune!"

"…what about the newspaper club?" Tsukune deadpanned as Ginei walked in. The werewolf seated himself on the other side of Tsukune's desk, the three of them the sole occupants of the classroom.

"You were already considering joining my club? Excellent, that'll save some time. My name is Ginei Morioka, and our club advisor is your teacher, Mer. Nekonome. It's our job to observe the goings-on of Youkai Academy and present it in a newspaper. We only create issues once a month, mostly because of the number of copies we need to make, and also so that our stories are edited down the best of the best."

Tsukune tuned the werewolf out as he explained the mechanics of the gutted glub to its newest and only members. So they didn't have Kurumu. While Tsukune wanted to dismiss it as unimportant, the succubus was probably the best way they had for getting information in the first place. Not to mention that he was already in a foul mood. Somehow, even expecting the silver-haired vixen's rejection didn't soften the blow.

"… and that's all for now. Are you ready to help bring the truth to the masses, Miss Akashiya?"

"I'm sure we can do it together. When's the first club meeting?"

"Thursday. I would appreciate it if you guys could bring as many friends as possible to the club. We aren't exactly overstaffed, if you catch my drift."

Moka nodded and grabbed her bookbag. "Tsukune, I have to go. Let's meet in the library later to study for the math test!"

_'We have a library?'_ Tsukune smirked behind her back. _'I knew it!'_

"That's about it," Gin finished. "thanks for joining, rookie. By the way," Gin tapped his breast pocket and made a not-so-subtle wink. "I would suggest that you not have unattended jewelry at our club meetings. Small objects tend to get lost in the chaos."

Tsukune noticed Gin's necklace, and his eyes narrowed. "Yeah, thanks. I'll set it in a ring or something. Good advice, from someone who can't help chasing cats."

"That's not fair, _sir_." Gin used the title with mocking sarcasm. "You know my handicap."

"I was referring to the tail, _werewolf_."

Gin snarled, standing up and pushing the desk backwards. "What about that one Christmas party when you and Moka-"

"Why won't you ever let that go?" Tsukune complained, also standing up.

"May the best man win, human."

"You're on!"


	5. Homicidal Text

**Caution: This is not 'how to write a fanfiction.' This is more along the lines of 'how NOT to write a fanfiction.' There is so much hate in this literature… [insert joke about _Mein Kampf_]. Whatever. Haters gonna hate, especially if the story deserves it. This story _so_ deserves it!**

**HOWEVER: This is not a self-insert. Tsukune's behavior isn't inexplicable, nor will it remain unexplained. There will come a point when everything becomes clear. Just wanted to clear that up, mostly because if I were writing a self-insert, it wouldn't go like Herald will. Just wanted to get that out of the way.**

Gin joined the karate club the next day. It wasn't unusual to join two clubs, but it surprised Haiji Miyamoto when his best friend came into the school gym and asked for the appropriate forms to sign.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously, pulling on his gi top and cinching a belt on. Gin shrugged. "Do I need a reason?"

Haiji gave him a flat stare. "Not really, but it sure would grease the wheels of bureaucracy."

"My karate has degenerated into shit," Gina said. "I want to get back to where we were a few years ago, before I left the dojo and you got busted by the PSC for using your monster form."

Haiji winced, remembering the incident like it had happened yesterday. "I was stuck in the hospital for three months. By the time I came out, I was so out of shape, I could barely even take _you_ in a fight."

Gin laughed, his white teeth glinting in the light coming through the windows. "And now look at us. We're posers! We're cannon fodder for the vampires, even though we should be up there busting their heads!"

Haiji nodded and walked over to the gym office, unlocking the door and stepping inside. "Wait as second, I'll just grab some of the forms you'll need and you can sign right up. Practices are on Tuesdays and Saturdays, you know the times."

"Sure do, buddy. It's time to pull our socks up, and I'm not really looking forward to it."

Haiji emerged carrying a stapled sheaf of paper. "Just try not to peep on girls and you'll do fine."

"Haiji, my friend, there's not much chance of that anymore."

XXX

The midterm exam results were nailed to a wooden board stretching across the campus, winding around corners to accommodate the hundreds of students and their test scores. Tsukune managed to find his name around the hundred mark. It was a marginal improvement, but he had expected more with his unique advantage in the curriculum. He noticed Kurumu far off to his left, pouting alongside one of her friends with an equally dismal IQ.

_'So that means Moka and Yukari will be off to the right. Yukari won't show up for another half hour or so, which means I've got a few minutes to hightail it with Moka. Damn, what do I do about that witch? Never really had patience for her, but I can't just punish her for something she hasn't done yet. AARGH, this is too confusing.'_

Tsukune pushed his way through the crowd, the hordes of youkai changing steadily from despondent to delighted as he approached the elite end of the spectrum. Mizore Shirayuki was there, surprisingly enough, staring silently at her rather respectable position of fortieth. The human brushed past the snow woman without acknowledging her.

"Tsukune! I got thirteenth!" Moka cried, waving her hands excitedly at the board. Offhand, Tsukune remembered sleeping in on the midterm reports, which meant that Moka had waited for him there for about two hours or so. _'Love doesn't make any sense, unless you're in love.'_ It was something Ginei had said, moments before his death, and Tsukune had always wondered what he meant by it. It was too obvious for the werewolf to just point out as a last reminder before kicking the bucket.

"Cool," he replied, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "I got one-oh-one."

"That's not too bad," Moka said, probably trying to be encouraging but coming off as patronizing. "You just need to work a little harder, that's all."

Tsukune almost lost it right there and then.

"I'll be sure to try harder next time," he said through gritted teeth. "Why don't we leave? I want to go study in the library."

Subtle as a freight train, but it worked. As Moka cheerfully lead Tsukune away from the twisting board of rankings, Yukari Sendo watched them leave out the window of her dorm room. She had been planning to go and look at the list, even though she was already certain of her own standing, just for the excuse to talk to Moka. In her mind, it was an unforgivable trespass on Tsukune's part to steal the pink haired vampire away before she'd gathered the nerve to try and talk to her.

Grabbing her heart-shaped wand off of her desk, the youngest student at Youkai Academy left her room and cast a minor tracking spell. It was too late to catch Moka alone, but if something were to happen to Tsukune…

XXX

The library doors were offside of a long corridor in the topmost floor of the administrative building. As they walked along, Tsukune recognized things here and there: the Chairman's vault, the doors to Paradise, Ruby and Yukari's old laboratory. The doors were sofa-coloured, blending so perfectly with the wall that you wouldn't notice them if you didn't know what you were looking for. They were tall and thin, and opened just wide enough to admit one average-sized youkai at a time.

"This is it?" Tsukune asked skeptically. He didn't really remember having been to the library before; that had been more Moka and Yukari's domain. Moka sighed. "Yeah, this is it. Most monsters aren't really exactly the most studious, and all the really good books are in the Headmaster's private collection. It's a good place to study, though."

She opened the door and stepped inside, Tsukune behind her. Almost immediately they were accosted by a woman with blonde hair and glasses, carrying a stack of books. She wore a conservative black suit, which did a terrible job of hiding the tails poking earnestly out of her waistband.

"Welcome to the Youkai Academy library," she greeted them. "I'm the librarian, Ms. Sanzai, but any friend of Moka's is a friend of mine. Call me Inari!" She oozed friendliness in obnoxious waves, and her smile was a bit _too_ wide, but Tsukune figured that the library had too few visitors as it was.

"I'm Tsukune," he introduced himself. "We're here to study together."

Inari nodded sagely. "This is probably the best place for it on the whole campus. Not too many youkai drop by, just the quiet types like your friend here."

Moka blushed and looked away. "You're too kind, Ms. Sanzai," she protested, albeit quietly. Tsukune watched the exchange with a sort of horrified fascination.

_'No wonder she threw the seal away, if this is what Akasha thought her daughter should do for fun.'_

Inari wrote up a library card for Tsukune, who put the piece of plastic in his back pocket and immediately forgot about it, and disappeared into an office. The library collection was small, to say the least. The entire room was big enough for four bookshelves in two rows and a plastic table set along the length of the room. It was the most miserable little place Tsukune had ever been in.

His opinion quickly changed, however, when he saw the collection. While Moka set up her study materials at one end of the table, Tsukune looked at the first row of texts and was astonished to find that most of them were spellbooks. Most of them covered the arcane arts, although a few covered slightly more mundane topics, like youkai biology and uses for assorted magical fungi.

As he trailed even further back, the books stopped being written in Japanese and came off in a wider variety of old English, Latin, Arabic, and even more runic alphabets that Tsukune couldn't identify on sight.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Inari asked. Tsukune whirled around, surprised, and Inari let out a soft chuckle. "It doesn't look like much, but Mikogami has assembled the largest collection of unique books in the entire ayashi world. Even Shuzen Issa hasn't quite matched it in sheer size." Strange talk, considering that there were so few books to begin with, but Tsukune let it slide.

"Why are they unique? Surely you can just reprint the more important ones?"

"You'd think," Inari said, "but somehow, whatever warlocks write refuses to leave the page. You can only learn their magic from their handwriting, or by speaking to them. It's why these are so valuable; over two hundred magical beings have willed their writing to Youkai Academy. And don't call me Shirley."

It was a lame pun, but Tsukune laughed and smiled and sat down to read the math textbook with Moka. And life was gong along smoothly until the books came alive and tried to kill him.

The first one was the textbook. It lifted slightly off the table and hovered there for a second. Tsukune and Moka shared an expectant look, and then it smashed Tsukune in the face. He reeled back, stunned by the blow, and then the entire nearest bookshelf creaked as the books it carried lifted off of the shelves and assembled themselves into a line.

"Not agai-" **POW.** Tsukune fell out of the chair when the first tome hit him, and when Moka tried to pick him up off the floor, the next one smashed him in the head again. And again. Blood streamed down his forehead, but Tsukune was still a little dazed and confused by the manner of attack. In fact, he was so out of it that it was a complete accident when his hand strayed to Moka's collar and ripped the rosary free of its chains.

**Why do you insist this is a self-insert? What must I do to prove you wrong?**


	6. Inari's Secrets

**The crazy train has arrived! All aboard for Everyone Bashing! I wrote this chapter while handing out candy to little children, so it's a pile of garbage… like this whole story! Hooray for consistency!**

The vampire blinked, youki rushing into her body as the seal was unchained form her neck. Moka assessed the situation, glanced at the cowering librarian Inari behind her desk, and kicked Tsukune away form the table. It wasn't hard enough to do any damage, but _any_ attack from a vampire will smart. The human's chair slid away from the table, away from the cloud of books, and when the witch's spellbooks flew after him to attack, Moka kicked again. And again. Each successful strike drove the parchment and ink away for a while, but they recovered swiftly and returned to the offensive.

"Th-the witch!" Tsukune gasped, the air driven from his lungs by Moka's foot. He was grateful it had been moving at subsonic speeds, but he no longer had supernatural resistance to nearly any attack the youkai world could throw at him. "Get Yukari!"

Moka either didn't hear him or didn't care, but Inari certainly did. The kitsune librarian marched out of the library and into the hallway, where a little girl was gleefully swinging a wand the size of a cheerleader's baton around while singing nursery rhymes. "That's enough of _that_ nonsense," she muttered under her breath, and snatched the implement away from its wielder. Instantly, the army of books dropped out of the air like rocks.

"Give that back!" Yukari demanded, jumping up at Inari and snatching for her wand. The older woman held the rod above her head and leveled a menacing stare at the juvenile genius. "You have disrupted the peace of the Youkai Academy Library," the kitsune recited, like she was reading it off of a page.

" We have a library?" Yukari asked.

"You have been sanctioned by the Exorcist. Punishment pending from the Public Safety Committee. As faculty, it is my duty to detain you until arrest."

Moka approached the two, an amused smile stretched over her face. "Perhaps the PSC is a little harsh for such a minor offence," she suggested, taking Yukari's wand from Inari. "Why don't we devise a punishment to suit the crime?"

Inari blinked. "You don't understand," she said slowly, "there are books in there that could level the academy if mistreated. _All_ infractions in the library are to be dealt with to the harshest degree possible." Yukari swallowed nervously. "First offence goes light?" she asked hopefully.

"Hmmm," Moka mused. "We could simply snap her wand and call it even. I'm sure the committee would be unnecessarily hard on such a young girl for a meaningless offence."

"Give me that," Tsukune snapped, whisking the wand out of Moka's hands and snapping it over his knee. "This thing is way too dangerous for her." A disc of blue light flared around the base of the break, and the individual halves of the wand dissolved into dust. Yukari stared at it in a mixture of despair and disbelief.

"I-I CAN'T BELIVE THIS! MOKAAAAAAAA!" The young witch ran away sobbing. The vampire gave Tsukune a droll stare. "A tad swift, but I approve."

Tsukune nodded in agreement. The thing had caused _way_ too much damage in its lifetime. Best to cut it short as soon as possible. The act made him feel a bit like he had assassinated a person, rather than disarming them, but he brushed the disturbing feeling off. Yukari neutralized, problem solved, Sun Otonashi safe.

"Maybe we should go back to studying, Moka?" Tsukune suggested, casually moving the rosary seal behind his back. Moka nodded rapidly and reentered the library.

"Are you not going to return me my seal?" she asked, and Tsukune shrugged. "Do you _need_ it back, or will an hour or two in the real world kill you?" he teased. Surprisingly, Ura-Moka settled with giving him a rude gesture before settling primly in Omote's chair. She flipped a textbook open and read quietly. Tsukune almost dared to question his good fortune, but managed not to botch it too badly. It was weird how he was always so calm, so self-assured, but Moka had spent years making him make a fool of himself.

A few hours later, a droplet of saliva dribbling out the corner of Tsukune's mouth, Moka slammed her books shut and left without saying a word. Tsukune made to leave, but the librarian waved him over to her desk.

"The Protection Committee is my creation," she confided. "I know that they've become rather, shall we say, _rambunctious_ in recent years, but in my time the organization was necessary."

"_Necessary_?" Tsukune said. "The largest organized youkai crime ring after Fairy Tale?" Inari winced at the name of the feared organization. "You think they _needed_ to be here?"

"You have to understand," Inari pleaded, "when I was in school here, there were no rules. We hardly ever saw Mikogami in person, the school was in disarray, and students lived and died by their own strength. It was madness! One of my friends, a powerful ayashi, suggested to our teacher that we create a police force, and I laid down the framework while he recruited members. Strong youkai, fast youkai, clever youkai, _good_ youkai, and together we brought the academy that much closer to human society."

"Well where the fuck have you been?" Tsukune said. "Hardly any youkai from the weaker races come here anymore, because they're so damn terrified that nobody will find their graves on campus!"

"I was… distracted," Inari admitted. "I stayed behind at school to manage the Headmaster's human resources and run the library. I was, er, in depression, for most of the first decade, and my duties weren't exactly performed to the high standard I usually hold myself to."

"What the hell?"

"You see, my friend had a girlfriend, who was a vampire, only it didn't end there…"

"Vampires," Tsukune said ruefully. "All of them leave a trail of death and heartbreak in their wake. Mostly death, though."

"Heartbreak. Yeah, there was the vampire, who was his girlfriend, but he actually had _three_ girlfriends. I… I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell." Tsukune whistled. "I feel for you there. So you got rejected by mister playboy and drowned your sorrows in being a workaholic. That about it?"

"How did we get here?" Inari wondered idly. "Never mind, what I was trying to say was about the PSC. If you're dead serious about opposing them, make sure you do it right."

"How did you know…?"

"I have my ways."

"Don't worry about me, I know what I'm doing."

Inari smiled sweetly and waved at the door. "Go on, Moka's waiting for you by the end of the hallway. Probably wants to suck you dry by now."

"She'd want to anyways," Tsukune muttered, and left. Inari watched him leave, and only when she was certain he'd gone did she bolt from behind her desk and race to the back of the library. She stuck her hands in her pockets, pulling out a key ring. The kitsune selected a big brass specimen from the list just as she got the back wall, stopping in front of its sole adornment: a painting of a fox with nine tails facing off against a toad, both of them bigger than mountains within a forested valley. Oil on canvas. It was a safe.

Inari pulled the painting back, eliciting a creaking noise as the hinges grated each other, and inserted the key. It turned with some effort, and behind the door was a book. It was big, thick and black, and rested on a pedestal within the safe. A silver chain restrained the book, though from what Inari never knew, and a rosary made of plain pewter, gemmed by a low-carat opal, sealed the cover. She wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead, knowing that her most precious treasure was safe, and returned to her desk.

Then she swore. It was time to get the _hell_ out of the library.

XXX

Yukari locked herself in her dorm room and flopped on her bed. Life was cruel, didn't she know it? Witches, damn their eyes. It was her damn fortune to be one of them, when everyone on the whole planet thought they were trash. Scum, was she? Lowlife, was she? She would have SHOWED THEM ALL! if she could, but she was only eleven!

Then there was Moka. The only ray of sunshine in the pits of hell that her mother had consigned her to. So lovely, so talented, so _beautiful_…

So utterly, utterly heartless.

She wanted nothing more than to kill Tsukune Aono, preferably in a horribly violent fashion.

There was a knock at the door, and she got up to answer it. "What do you…" she trailed off, as the person who had knocked was none other than Miyamoto of the karate club. He invited himself into her room, brushing past the stunned witch and sitting in her desk chair, conveniently cutting off access to her remaining magical materials. "Yukari! Wassap!" He grinned lecherously.

"What do _you_ want, lolicon?" the witch asked harshly. "I'm in the middle of something right now."

"Plotting a horrible, painful death for Tsukune Aono?" the kenku asked innocently. Yukari forced her mouth not to fall open. "Er… yes, minus the 'horrible' and 'painful' bits. Now that you mention it, though, that sounds like a good idea."

"Join the club, little sister," Haiji rumbled. "We need someone like you on our side if we're gonna get back at that rat bastard. You in?"

_'For Moka!'_

"Indeed. Congratulations, you have recruited a genius," Yukari said smugly.

"Well, we'll call you when we the time is right. Bye for now, you cute little thing, you." Haiji playfully smacked her on the ass on his way out, and when Yukari finished swearing revenge on every raven in a fifty-kilometer radius, she sat down in her chair and cried.

**Please don't judge me by this chapter. I usually write good stuff! Really!**


End file.
